You're not worthy to be heroes
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: As nothing more than a comedy, these five were never taken serious by anyone. But when a mysterious man stresses that they don't deserve to be recognized as heroes, they are given a chance to earn that status by saving a world on the brink of destruction by a being not all that different from themselves. But can they shape up into their roles? Or will they pay for their silliness?
1. You're not worthy to be heroes

Creation began on 08-16-19

Creation ended on 09-16-19

Teen Titans Go!

You're not worthy to be heroes

A/N: Someone decides to let the Titans know personally just how unworthy they are in one sense and why this is so in another.

Brother Correction watched through one of his spheres showing him events taking place in alternate dimensions, and one such universe was a very poor example of how much people desired to be recognized as heroes…but were the absolute worst at it in ways that were not going to bestow them any measure of respect or admiration. And he knew they needed to know why.

"These five think they're the best heroes in their world?" He questioned as he grabbed the sphere. "They truly think that people love them for their acts? Oh, these kids are wrong. They are as wrong as the universe they reside in is. They don't deserve the status of hero if they fail to understand at the most basic level of what it really means to be one."

-x-

At night at Titans Tower, the base of operations and the residence of the five founding members of the Teen Titans group, while the young heroes were asleep, a stranger made their presence known.

"Unworthy," went Brother Correction as he stood in the living room, looking at the large couch and menagerie of pictures that decorated the room. "This place…is nothing more than a dorm for people that can't live with people who live in the city and elsewhere where they have normal lives. Even here, nobody is safe from these…children that think themselves heroes. They need to learn how much they're not about the hero life and how far they have fallen."

He brought up his hands and unleashed a wave of energy that enveloped everything.

_Awaken to your shame and know what the world truly thinks about you!_

-x-

"Aaaahh!" Starfire's scream was heard throughout the tower, awakening the other Titans to the new day, alerting them to what might've been the reason for her scream.

"Gaaahh!" Robin gasped, looking around his room, and seeing nothing recognizable in it…or with himself.

He was taller, more proportioned, and his room darker and the walls covered in crime photos and files. When he vacated his room and stepped out into a dark hall with little lighting, he saw Beast Boy and Cyborg, who weren't the way they were supposed to be.

"Gaah!" He pointed to them.

"You're not one to look at, either," said Cyborg; he was taller, looked more serious and tougher, like a young adult or adult, and his arms had more organic to them than his head.

Beast Boy was taller, as well, looking less childish in his appearance and more like a young teen than a small child.

"Just what the heck happened to us?!" Beast Boy demanded. "I never looked anything like this!"

"Somebody clearly is at work and has affected us on a level greater than that of Control Freak," they heard Raven's voice as she appeared in front of them, "someone with the ability to manipulate reality on a scale unheard of by mortals."

She was as tall as Robin and Beast Boy were, but smaller than Cyborg, her outfit more proportioned to her body, her skin was paler and her hair was a darker shade of purple instead of black, like she was a young woman tortured by a past that nobody around her really understood because of how she kept to herself.

Beast Boy couldn't stop staring at her.

"Well, you look better than we do, Mama," he declared, meaning so.

Raven simply pulled on her hood and obscured her blush.

"Friends," went Starfire as she flew into the dark hall, her left hand aglow with one of her Starbolts, "I think someone is here and is upset with us. He has remade the tower and is sitting in the living room where the couch used to be the pink."

Starfire was about Robin and Raven's height, her hair barely reaching to her waist, and, like Raven, her figure was more proportioned, with the minor exception of her eyebrows, which appeared smaller.

"You mean the person that did this to us is here in the tower?" Robin asked her.

"He is," she responded.

They ran to the living room, and were shocked to find that it was much bigger than they had expected it to be, with more space and less walls beyond the ones in the background. Even the kitchen itself was in one corner of the large room, with a row of computer systems in another corner. And standing in front of the windows was a man looking out at the world beyond the landmass the tower was situated upon.

"I'm glad to see that you're finally awake," he uttered to them, turning to present his gaze. "Right now, most of you are confused as to how and why, and there will be an explanation for all of this. You just won't like it."

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled, taking out his collapsible staff and charging towards the dark man while the other Titans didn't move an inch from where they stood.

Brother Correction knew that Robin would make an unprovoked attempt on him.

"You sit," he spoke, and Robin soon found himself forced onto the floor, his staff several feet from him. "This is why I look down upon you more than the whole team. You're quick to react with hostility before even considering the very possibility of just conversing with someone. You think that every situation, however large, however small, has to be resolved through violence, that conflict solves everything. I understand that your past is a damaged stack of trauma, but you are no better than a pouty child that acts out badly when you can't have your way. Look at your teammates. You ordered them to attack, but they didn't. You wanted to fight me, but they chose not to. They're learning something you're too stubborn right now to understand. Now…rise up."

Robin got back to his feet and stood before him.

"You try to attack me again…and you'll spend the rest of this conversation that has yet to begin about the how and why…locked up in a sphere where you will be forced to watch, listen and learn about your situation. All of you."

The other Titans looked to one another and decided not to even attempt to fight this stranger.

"Now, does anyone have any questions? One at a time, please."

Starfire raised her left hand up.

"Yes, Starfire?"

"Who are you, the stranger in our tower?" She asked him.

"I am Brother Correction. I used to be a mere man…but over time, I became more, charged with a multitude of purpose by various beings, past and future. I am the explorer and crusader in the further regions of universal justice, salvation and redemption for the souls of all existence. A tormentor to some that refuse to learn from their mistakes made time and again…and a savior to others that wish to undo their crimes that sealed their fate."

Then Raven raised her right hand.

"Raven?"

"You're here because of something we did? Or…something we haven't done yet?" She questioned him.

"You've done it time and again, without anyone to show you the error of your ways," he explained. "The reason I'm here right now…and tell you, all of you…that none of you, despite your acts, despite your reasons and backgrounds…are heroes."

"We're not heroes?" Beast Boy spoke. "But…we save people's lives when they're in danger, sir. We fight bad guys, we…"

"You're just children that roughhouse at every opportunity with whoever you decide is the objective of your game!" Brother Correction raised his voice and Beast Boy backed down. "You may think yourselves heroes, but all any of you do most of the time is cause wonted destruction on a regular basis, endanger the lives of the people you claim to protect from harm, and act like nothing terrible's going to happen to you when you're through at the end of the day, believing you're above reproach. True, you all come from backgrounds that hold a fair measure of darkness, of trauma, of loss and suffering, but you don't try to fit in with a society that would be better off if such things as heroes and villains existed only in comic books and television. I mean, look amongst yourselves. A leader that abuses his teammates, uses reckless actions to boss them around, forces them to listen to him when they're doing something else that isn't some sort of priority that requires the assistance of someone either necessary or is expected to deal with it and pines for the affections of some extraterrestrial princess that either loves him sometimes and doesn't other times. A young man that had a future in the world of sports before suffering an accident that rendered him on the verge of death itself until his father made a desperate attempt to save him by converting him into a cyborg, but at the cost of alienating him from those that either thought he was dead or couldn't accept what he'd become, and he becomes one half of a pair of jokesters that could realize his dream of actually being a true hero if he grew up more mentally and took his current state more serious while living more appropriately amongst his fellow heroes. A young man that suffered as a child during an expedition with his parents that resulted in him being treated with an untested formula after being bitten by a strange monkey that granted him the power of animal shapeshifting, the other half of a pair of jokesters that barely uses his brain because he can't take anything serious unless pushed to the edge or in a life-or-death situation where he has to own up to his lack of intellect and willingness to try anything to do right by the others. A young woman some want to believe is evil but isn't evil, always keeping to herself or doing something crazy that most wouldn't consider on account of how impossible it seems, born of an unholy union between mortal and demon, destined to bring about the end of the world many, many times, and not desiring that life, but finding difficulty in having a life because of these concepts that are the future, destiny, fate or even damnation. And who uses her demonic powers inherited from her heartless father in ways that just make people question if she's even meant to do anything terrible when she has an interest in a child cartoon about horses with wings that embrace life lessons about friendship and making the right choices as a guilty pleasure. Or a princess from beyond the stars who was separated from her parents, brother and home world because of an elder sister that couldn't let go of her disgust towards her little sister due to being the bad apple, sent to a world where her social skills, while minor and in need of improvement, are akin to a child that does crazy things like drinking mustard and wanting to believe in love and friendship being able to make the world a better place."

The Titans couldn't believe how he was describing them to the very core of their respective histories, but felt there was more to what he was saying.

"I want to believe in you five being capable of actually being what you claim to be, but so long as you continue to act the way you do, none of you will be heroes. None of you will deserve to be called heroes, no matter what you say, no matter what you do. You want to be heroes? You want to be admired by the people you want to protect from harm? How far are you willing to go? What price are you willing to pay to earn the hard-earned status of hero? Raven? How about you, Cyborg? What are you thinking you'd pay, Beast Boy? What about you, Robin? What are you willing to sacrifice to become a true hero? What price are you willing to pay…to be someone that others can actually look up to?"

None of the Titans answered him, each of them thinking about what he just said. This was just reminding each of the multiverse belief, on how, in other universes, there were alternates of each of them, and in some of those universes…they actually were heroes…or something else entirely.

For Robin, in some universes, his family was still alive and they were still in the circus. But in others, they were dead…and instead of becoming a crusader for justice, he became worse than how he was stated to be right now by the majority of people around him.

Cyborg, on the other hand, in some universes, either avoided the accident that destroyed his life by means of some other person taking his place…or ended up reduced to being a ghost in the machine with no shred of humanity left. But in some other, small universes, sometimes, just sometimes, the former young man with a future in the world of athleticism…returned to a life of humanity by being given a new body grown from his salvaged DNA. Sometimes, he never thought to wonder if it was possible for him to go back to that life of normality over being a cybernetic organism.

Raven never felt the need to wonder if she could be like other girls her age because of her origins. She was a half-demon, the result of an unholy union between her mother Arella and the inter-dimensional demon Trigon, and as a result, she was more affiliated with the darkness of the universe than the light, considered a monster that pretended to be human most of the time, unable to be genuinely human. But she had glimpsed in just a trio of other universes that she was around in…and found that she was a regular girl with no ties to Trigon or any cults, that her mother had gotten out of the bad crowds and turned her life around or came from a happy family, free of abuse, both physically and emotionally. Oh, how there were times where she thought it would've been better for her to live in one of those universes than the one she currently inhabited.

"What do we have to do?" Starfire questioned. "What can we do…to prove to you that we can be heroes, Brother Correction?"

"For once, one of you asks the question that will decide whether you can be heroes for real…or just be labeled as troublemakers," Brother Correction responded. "There is a way for you to earn the status of hero, to truly earn it. The question is, though, do any of you think you're capable of making the hard decisions to do one thing that is a multitude of smaller tasks? Do you have what it takes to live the life that heroes live, knowing that you have to live with the consequences of your actions and inactions…and not acting as though it's child's play?"

"What is it that we have to do to prove that we're heroes?" Robin asked.

"I will send you five to another universe…where you will face a fiend that only understands a goal he was tasked with as a child through a message he receives when he comes of age…and chooses to carry it out at the expense of the people around him."

"What goal?" Beast Boy questioned.

"To take the world," he answered, "and by 'take the world', he will destroy cities, end millions…until there is nothing left to take…and no one to put up a resistance. Do you think you can stop someone from another world that will reign nothing but death and destruction on one you'd recognize? Do you believe you can be called heroes by saving those that are left from a threat to their lives? If you believe that you can without thinking it'll be easy, please say so now. If not, if you want to back out in favor of self-preservation, you'll just be proving that I was right about you. Decide now."

Robin wanted to prove that he was a hero and a capable leader, that he wasn't some sort of lunatic that would physically and verbally abuse his teammates…or that he could stop being that person and change for the better.

Starfire felt that this person from another world was similar to her sister, but was worse due to being willing to inflict suffering onto millions because of what his people had intended of him to do, something she felt she needed to end in favor of proving to the people of Earth that not all extraterrestrials were cruel.

Raven was convinced that there was someone out there that was more twisted and sorrowful than she was in terms of background…but was clearly willing to do whatever he had to on account of a message his people left him to follow.

As for Cyborg and Beast Boy…they needed to prove that they could help the people placed in danger, that they were capable of being heroes for real and taking things serious, that they weren't just a pair of pranksters that tried to have a good time.

"We'll prove that we can be heroes," they each said to Brother Correction, who gave a small smile in return.

"We shall see about that," he told them as a portal opened behind him . "We shall see."

-x-

Stepping out onto a patch of farmland, the Teen Titans found their new setting where they would prove to Brother Correction that they could be heroes…was wrecked by a sense of destruction with impending death not far behind.

"My God," went Robin as he looked up at the sky, seeing that it was red, possibly due to fires occurring far away from where they were.

"You're saying that just one person did all of this?" Beast Boy questioned.

"One powerful person…with absolutely no regard for the people's safety," said Raven, feeling nothing but dread from the residual energies of the people that died before they arrived. "Something of this sort has happened once before…in at least one other universe."

"This level of cruelty is intolerable, even on my world," Starfire expressed, looking down at a sign that had been around for some time. "It says here that…this place is called Brightburn, Kansas…with a population of zero."

Cyborg picked up the sign and they all saw the name of where they were…along with a bunch of strange symbols that appeared to be of the second letter of the alphabet.

"Brightburn, Kansas?" Robin questioned. "That's not too far from…where Smallville is."

"Except that this…isn't a universe where Superman exists," they heard Brother Correction state to them, appearing behind them. "This…is a universe where the people you think could grow up to be heroes…become the very people you fear and despise for their decisions made after revelations become twisted. Dark knights and men of steel don't deliver hope to those in need of it, people from before your time and from below the oceans using their abilities to harm rather than help people of today's generation. But if you stop this one threat to the world…you can turn the tide of the future. But only if you can stop this threat."

"But…why here?" Cyborg asked.

"Here's a hint: Invulnerability is all but absolute. What doesn't exist here existed elsewhere before. Within the past of the one that brings despair…can another find salvation when all else fails, from reason to force."

None of the Titans understood his hint.

Robin wanted to beat the secret out of him, but was then reminded that if he did, he'd be proving that he wasn't capable to lead the Titans in saving the people left in this.

Brother Correction knew what he had thought of doing and uttered, "You're showing restraint, Robin, which is a good thing. If I gave you the answer so simply, you wouldn't learn the truth on your own, which you must. From here on out, you five must strive to be the hope for the people of this world. Find out how to stop the threat, face the darkness and restore the light. Uncover the past to save the future. Bring justice for the people that were taken. Become the heroes you should be. Save the world!"

And then he was gone, leaving them to do what they could to end this nightmare.

"Great," went Beast Boy as he looked around them. "Now, what do we do?"

"We get to work," Robin explained. "All we have to work with right now is the hint he gave us. If we figure out what it means, then we can stop this villain for good."

"We should split up into two teams to ascertain our situation," Raven suggested. "Starfire and I can go survey the land and do reconnaissance from the air while you three find out whatever you can on the ground."

"That's a good idea," said Cyborg to her. "Be careful, though; we don't know how powerful this guy is. For all we know, he could be as strong as Superman is, if he's even anything like Superman at all."

Raven and Starfire then took to the skies while Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg started to search the ground.

Beast Boy found an old newspaper article that read, _"Mankind Falls To Brightburn!"_, which indicated that the threat they were facing was called Brightburn, after the town he lived in and began destroying in his goal to take the world.

"Looks like Brightburn is the name of our enemy here," he told Robin and Cyborg, showing them the old article.

To be continued…in a world without heroes

A/N: Well, here is what can be described as the least serious version of the Teen Titans being challenged to become like their serious incarnations and become the real deal against a threat to people in a universe where heroes don't exist by facing a threat that could kill them. But what do you think? Can these Titans grow out of their childish antics and earn the status of hero…or will they fall?


	2. Robin's Dismay

Creation began on 11-05-19

Creation ended on 11-06-19

Teen Titans Go!

You're not worthy to be heroes: Robin's Dismay

A/N: I figured this would help me to force the TTG incarnation of the Boy Wonder to realize why his TT incarnation will be his better no matter what he does, even against a person that isn't out to do any good. Here goes.

Nothing he tried appeared to have any effect upon this young man that was taking the secret identity motif of heroes and villains to a ridiculous low by wearing handmade variations over authentic ones that made them look official. His smoke bombs, Birdarangs and staff did nothing to harm this guy that claimed the people dubbed him Brightburn, after the place he started showing up in. No, even as he fell over a thousand feet in the air, Robin was left to ponder how someone like this…this Brightburn could have bested him without even trying, able to injure him without putting in any effort, despite Robin thinking that he could stop him once he challenged him. And in the process of thinking this, of trying to injure the powerful being, the Boy Wonder had caused the deaths of a pocket of survivors that Brightburn was looking for, only to eviscerate them with his heat vision in front of the Titan.

"_I don't have time for someone thinking they can stop me,"_ Brightburn had told Robin as he took him high into the sky above the ruins of his namesake. _"You were never a match for me. You…are just a pathetic little boy playing dress-up."_

_But…how could I fail?_ Robin thought as he was still falling. _I'm the leader of the Titans. I'm the best there is! I'm a hero!_

But if he was what he claimed to be, why didn't he stop Brightburn from killing the handful of people that were trying to hide from the super-being out to kill them? Why didn't protect them from his heat vision or super-strength that could tear down steel? Why didn't…he do what a true hero would've done no matter what the cost?

"_You're not worthy to be heroes!" _He remembered Brother Correction telling them when they met him in the tower. _"You're just kids that play dangerously around people, breaking things and causing harm to those that have to live with the repercussions of your presence! No matter what your intentions, no matter what your background, you will never deserve to be called heroes if you continued to treat it like it's nothing but child's play!"_

And Brightburn…would best the Titans because he was not a hero. He would win because he took what he was doing seriously, not treating it like a game, and not trying to win the love of some girl or prove himself superior to those that were better than he'd ever be. And, as tough as Robin found it to accept, Brightburn most likely didn't even care about his outfit fitting in all the right places like his butt, just using it to mask his identity and make himself appear mysterious. There appeared to be no flaw in anything this Superman-like being was doing that Robin could see a flaw in.

_He's not playing,_ he realized, taking off his left glove to see his hand, a regular-sized hand belonging to a regular-proportioned, teenage boy, not a baby-like hand. _He knows what he's meant to do and chooses to fulfill it. He's not in it for recognition or to be a protector. He's just taking the world…and ending anyone he can find before they can stand up to him._

"_You brought him here!" _A man that was among the people killed yelled at Robin before Brightburn killed him. _"You brought that Devil here! You killed us, boy! You did! You killed us!"_

He watched pathetically as Brightburn killed a woman with a baby in her arms…then an elderly man…and a little girl…and a young man whose legs were broken. The super-being didn't discriminate between anyone.

_Brother Correction was right,_ he came to accept as the ground below him edged closer in his fall. _We're not heroes. We were never heroes. Who were we kidding? Who was I kidding? I'm just some kid that was trying to be in control. A real hero would've been able to save some of those people. I swear, Brother Correction, if I survive this, I will give up my old ways. I'll stop complaining about the others not listening to me, I'll be more in control of myself, whatever it takes to be a real hero!_

He thought his last moments were going to be of the day his parents died due to criminals messing with the circus equipment, how his life changed when he got swept up into the life of vigilantism, chasing villains, working in the shadows, learning to trust others, even those that knew who he was under the mask and kept his secrets.

"Aaaaaaurgh!" A shrieking sound was heard, and Robin felt a pair of claws grip onto his shoulders. "Aaaaurgh!"

The pinches of pain snapped him back to the present as he looked up…and saw a dark green pterodactyl above him, flying him to the ground safely.

"Over here!" He heard the voice of Cyborg nearby the ruins of a clearing.

-x-

Brightburn had never expected someone that wasn't an army of tanks of jets to try and stand up to him, despite the impossibility of actually harming him, but never had he encountered a young man that was so…annoying and outright pathetic. And the yelling, he had to wonder how anyone could stand to be around him when he kept yelling, as if trying to be heard all the time, even at night, by countless people. Well, there were hardly any people left in this world now. After his four years of activity since he came into his powers of super-strength, flight, invulnerability and heat vision, he had traveled across the planet and demolished thousands of buildings in hundreds of cities and towns, racking up millions of lives, even destroying bridges to prevent people from escaping the devastation. As annoying as that boy in the costume had been, nothing had come to annoy him more…than people that lingered like a pest that wouldn't call it quits.

-x-

"…So this Brightburn guy no older than we are?" Raven questioned as she, Starfire and the boys were sharing what they knew about their enemy in the clearing. "Like, twenty or so?"

"His costume's homemade," Starfire added, "but he's not a talkative person. His cruelty is insufferable. Even if he were from my world, he'd be viewed as an aberrant defect that needed to be removed from society."

"He's not like Superman, that's for certain," said Cyborg to them. "Some of his powers are similar, but he doesn't derive his energy from the sun at all. It seems that his abilities are all tied to his age; the older he gets, the stronger he becomes. My best guess, if he ever reaches the age of Superman in his prime, he'd be unstoppable. Where he is currently just feels like he's unstoppable, but he still has some limits."

"We just need to find a way to stop him first," Beast Boy uttered.

"Friend Robin?" Starfire spoke, noticing that Robin was unusually quiet, something he wasn't at any time, except for when they were asleep. "Robin?"

"He was right about us," he told them. "Brother Correction was right. We're just a bunch of kids that like to roughhouse. We're not heroes. I tried to fight Brightburn…and he wasn't even trying to fight back, no matter what I did. Nothing hurt him."

"You're only human, man," Cyborg told him. "He's not, even if he looks like one. The guy doesn't care who he hurts or who gets in his way."

"He murdered a bunch of refugees in front of me. One man even said how it was my fault that he found them before he was killed…and he was right. I led Brightburn to where they were hiding and he killed them. It didn't even matter who they were or why they were hiding. He's like…"

"Like the us?" Starfire suggested. "Only worse because he doesn't care if he's not liked by the people? Worse than the us because he doesn't care if destroys the many cities with the people living in them?"

"Yeah," he agreed with her.

"But the still, the Brightburn is who we, the Teen Titans, must face if we're to save the few that are the left and free the world. We stop the Brightburn, we become the heroes we want the Brother Correction to see us as."

"That's just one problem with that plan, Star," went Beast Boy. "It seems that when Brother Correction changed us, he changed the way our powers work; I used to be able to talk no matter which form I took, but now I can't speak in any form except this one. I tried talking as a gorilla, and nothing happened."

"He's right," added Raven. "My powers were also affected by this change. I can't produce dark energy constructs, anymore. I can manipulate pre-existing constructs, but beyond that, I can create temporary walls or barriers. It's like we're limited in our abilities."

"I still have some of my weapons," Cyborg shared, "but they're heavily reduced in their potency, including my sonic cannons. What about your powers, Star?"

"Mine all still the work," Starfire expressed, showing one of her star bolts in her left hand. "Do you think the Brother Correction did this on purpose so that we could demonstrate our worth as heroes to the him and the people?"

"No," Robin responded. "I think it was because he wanted us to be like whoever we were in other lifetimes because they had more limits put on them…and more restraint; just because we could do something others couldn't…didn't mean that we should."

"I guess you falling to your near-death shook you," Beast Boy told him.

"We need to take this serious; no jokes, no talk unless it's about something important, no laughter, no comedy. It won't help us against Brightburn."

"I think I might've found something that can help us against him," suggested Cyborg. "One of my scanners pick up a trace of an unidentifiable metallic alloy where a farm used to reside. I tried cross-referencing it with every known metal in my database, and nothing matched it. There's still some satellites hovering over the planet that still work, but all I could find when I hacked one over our heads was a site where a plane wreck occurred four years, shortly before Brightburn appeared to the public."

"Some sort of foreign metal?" Raven asked him. "What if this metal relates in some way to Brightburn? What if it's something he barely knows about?"

"There's only one way we'll find out," Robin told them. "Let's get to that site."

-x-

Something stirred within Brightburn as he sat on his throne of rubble. It was a feeling of concern, like there was something he had to do. Rising from off the rubble, he took to the air and flew across the Atlantic Ocean. Whatever was causing this feeling of concern in him, he would end it. The sooner he dealt with it, the better his chances would be of solidifying his mission to take this world.

"Take the world," he repeated his realization of his mission as his eyes flared with power.

To be continued…

A/N: Okay, maybe this chapter wasn't as impressive to some of you as I had hoped it would be, but I want you to consider how TTG Robin would be ineffective against Brightburn for any fight duration and how he'd just whine about it before falling to his would-be death, realizing how pathetic he truly is and how nothing he did worked. Another reason is how this Robin, even when he now looks like his TT counterpart, is still only human; he has no superhuman abilities or magical origins to rely upon to better his odds against someone blessed or cursed with great power and taking no responsibility for their usage of it. I believe any near-death experience of this sort, where you die and don't come back to life, where you don't wake up from a crazy dream or anything, will allow for one to come to terms, or start to, at least, with their flaws and try to overcome them.


	3. Acceptance of failure promises victory

Creation began on 04-06-20

Creation ended on 04-11-20

Teen Titans Go!

You're not worthy to be heroes: Acceptance of failure promises victory

A/N: It's only when we accept our failures do we understand what it takes to succeed.

This had to be a dream. A terrible nightmare of some sort. They were the Teen Titans. They were the heroes of the young generation, tasked with proving themselves worthy to be heroes to humanity and the world. But as he got back up, the Boy Wonder saw his teammates on the ground, defeated in ways that would haunt him.

Cyborg was in pieces all over the place. His face ruined and his facial flesh scorched beyond recognition to anyone that might've known him.

Beast Boy was impaled against the remains of a burnt tree's branch, his arms and legs gone.

Raven was reduced to nothing but the tattered remains of her cloak and leotard.

And Starfire was… There was nothing that remained of the Tamaranian princess, not even her gauntlets or hair.

"You really were fools to stand up to me," he heard the cruel voice of Brightburn, hovering above him, eyes flaring red. "Any last words?"

Robin couldn't find the will to face the alien villain again…and just fell backwards onto the…onto the…cosmos?

"Do you see where you went wrong, Robin?" He heard Brother Correction ask him, seeing that he was unharmed and floating in the abyss of space with the dark man. "Do you understand why you can't behave as you do with your team or anyone, friend or foe?"

"I do," he responded, remembering what had happened; he lost consciousness for a minute and was placed in an alternate scenario by Brother Correction to show him why his unstable methods of trying to get the Titans to follow him against Brightburn had they not found what might've been used against him. "I tried to force the others to fight him all at once instead of being strategic and being evasive while studying his abilities further. He killed them all in front of me."

But the worst part about what happened for Robin wasn't that he was forced to watch as the alien fiend murdered his friends in front of him. No, the worst part…was that Brightburn never killed him, as if needing him as a spectator, a witness to his wrath upon the world.

"We didn't even use the metal from that ship we found buried under the remains of that farm," he told Brother Correction. "Tell me, please…The ship… That's his Achilles' heel, isn't it? The metal that comprises it, it's able to harm him, like some sort of fail-safe to ensure he couldn't act out too much."

"It might be meant to serve as that, but the only way to know for sure…is to put the metal to use against Brightburn and stop him. It takes a team comprised of more than one to stand against the only one who threatens to destroy what remains of the world. And you won't win unless you truly trust in your team. You lean on your team…and they'll lean on you in return. A true leader has to be understanding and accepting of his team's individual flaws and traits, learning to adjust to their behavior and make their drawbacks into advantages. If you want your teammates to cooperate with you, you have to cooperate with them. No control-freaking, no master and servant relationships, no puppet mastering on those around you. Just a leader, a friend, and a teammate. You do that, and you get closer to becoming a hero."

Robin nodded in acceptance. During this entire fiasco they had been tasked with in order to prove that they could be real heroes, he found his inability to take control of the situation to be something that wasn't going to happen on his terms. He saw the impossibility of it when Brightburn murdered the refugees trying to hide from him. No matter what he said or did that was the wrong thing to do in a situation of this magnitude, he was going to fail.

"One of the important qualities of a hero is to be disciplined and demonstrate restraint," Brother Correction told him, something that Robin hadn't demonstrated much of since they met. "A hero must have a strong sense of justice, a willingness to do right by those around them, regardless of the danger, known and unknown, and, above all, must be willing to sacrifice their life to protect others. They do so not for recognition, not for glory, but because they have to ensure that the people they must protect live to see another day, no matter what. Even if the survivors live for less than what the hero intended, just knowing that they sacrificed themselves to save them is what gives a hero the eternal right to be recognized as a hero. Real heroes…go somewhere else in the afterlife upon their deaths. Valhalla, the Elysium Fields, places other than Heaven or Paradise where those that chose the life of a hero can be remembered and focus on what they can do next. And now, Robin, it's time for you to wake up."

Gasp! Robin awoke to the sounds of Cyborg still working on the mysterious ship they had found buried underground.

"How long was I out?" He asked, and Cyborg turned to face him, holding a fragment of the ship in his left hand.

"Just eight minutes," Cyborg told him. "I figured out how to atomize the metal into an aerosol form. This whole vessel seems to had been meant to serve as a double-edged sword for Brightburn, to bring him to another world when he was young…and to be used against him if he went too far, but only if the intelligent race that found him knew how to utilize it to their advantage against him."

"Is the metal dangerous to humans?"

"No, but it emits a special radiation when Brightburn is near, probably acting as a failsafe against him, weakening him to a degree. How much so is unknown right now."

"You have any idea why someone from another world…would send someone like Brightburn to Earth…only for him to become the stuff of nightmares for the people?"

Cyborg sighed and expressed several theories on why Brightburn ended up on Earth in the past.

"Maybe his parents were like Superman's race, trying to ensure one of their own would survive somewhere on another world," he suggested. "Maybe he was part of a failed program to send children to primitive worlds and then cause their downfall once they came of age. Or maybe…maybe Brightburn is just Superman gone bad. You?"

"Nothing. I think Brother Correction contacted me in a dream I was having a few minutes ago, trying to teach me something that I wasn't understanding until it was too late."

"What was he teaching you?"

"How my flaws would jeopardize the team if I tried to control what everyone did against Brightburn or any other enemy. In the end, I saw everyone die."

"That's terrible."

"I won't let that happen for real, though."

-x-

Brightburn searched allover the ruins of the world for these five teens that tried to stand up to him, with no such luck in finding them. Sure, he managed to find several refugees trying to hide from him and killed a few of them when they couldn't or wouldn't tell him where these teens were, but that didn't change the fact that he now felt threatened by them so long as they were out there somewhere, searching for a way to stop him. The sooner he found them and destroyed them, the better he could focus on his original purpose to take the world.

_What did that cape-wearing fool call themselves?_ He wondered as he flew through the air. _I think it was…the Teen Titans? They're not Titans. Not even close. They're just a handful of freaks that persist in trying to live in this world. My world! I will kill them once I find them!_

His eyes flared once more as he unleashed his heat vision upon the ruins of Sydney, Australia, setting them ablaze again, just to vent his frustrations.

"Aaaaurgh!" He growled. "Where are you?!"

To be continued…

A/N: Once more, TTG Robin is made to understand what he must do to ensure that the Teen Titans defeat Brightburn, bringing him another step closer to being more like his TT counterpart. And Brightburn has no idea that his downfall is inching ever closer to reality. Boredom really causes people to try and pass the time doing something constructive instead of invoking the deadly sin that is sloth all the time being indoors. Peace.


	4. Sacrifice

Creation began on 04-13-20

Creation ended on 07-11-20

Teen Titans Go!

You're not worthy to be heroes: Sacrifice

A/N: It's time for those that know they're not real heroes to finally prove their worth to those that need real heroes by facing a true villain.

"…But how do we know these are going to work against Brightburn?" Raven asked Cyborg as he presented the limited number of grenades and blades made from the metal of the ship that brought Brightburn to Earth.

"I don't," Cyborg explained, "but this metal came from wherever he did. If it was meant to protect him during the trip in space, then this metal must affect him enough to at least weaken him. Use the grenades to expose him to the atomized metal particles, then use the blades wherever you can to injure him."

Starfire held up a fine, curved blade, an impressive feat in the short amount of time since they lost to Brightburn the first time and they had to hide from him. Then, she slipped the blade under her left arm's gauntlet; when the time came, she would know when to use the blade on this alien that was unkind.

Beast Boy held up one of the small grenades and asked, "Do these detonate on impact?"

"Yeah, since this guy reacts quickly," Cyborg answered. "Just hope that he breathes in the atomized metal particles. The more exposure we get from him, the better."

Cyborg had only enough resources on hand to make twenty-five of these grenades and ten of the blades from the ship's metal. There was still more from the ship that could be harvested, but that would have to wait for another time. The weapons afforded to them were split equally among the five Titans; five grenades and two blades apiece.

"So, how do we get close enough to Brightburn for any of these to weaken him?" Beast Boy asked them.

"We draw him out," answered Robin, taking this matter serious.

"Yeah, but… How, I mean?"

Robin looked to Starfire and Raven and had an idea.

-x-

Still in the air, Brightburn had returned to where his life began on Earth and decided to look for survivors and kill them.

Flare! Bright green lights shot into the red sky, illuminating whatever ruins they could.

Brightburn suddenly heard some strange, loud noises from afar, sounding like dance music (A/N: It's the party music from _BBRBDAY_), and he flew down to the source, finding several loudspeakers scattered around the ground, all connected by wires to a damaged computer.

Blast! He fired his heat vision on the computer and destroyed it, silencing the music.

Blast! Something hit him on his back and exploded, covering him in gray smoke.

"I had a recent nightmare about you, Brightburn," he heard that voice belonging to that crazy, masked boy that tried to face him earlier. "I can't ignore how foolish I was to try and face you on my own, but it's just as foolish to face you without any edge in both knowledge and tactics."

Brightburn turned around to face him, seeing that his staff was brandished again.

"I grow tired of you," he told Robin. "None of you are any match for me. Especially you. You made it easier for me to kill those refugees. And you think you're a hero? There is no such thing as heroes. If anything, I'm the hero. I took the world."

"Yeah," Robin admitted. "Yeah, you did take the world. You took the world and left in ruins. Why take the world if all you do is destroy everything? I used to believe I was a hero, that I commanded a great team, but in truth… I was nowhere near being a hero. And my team… I didn't treat them the way a leader is supposed to treat them. If given the chance to do my life over again, I would treat my friends as friends. What of you, Brightburn? Do you have any friends? Do you have anyone in your life?"

"I have no need for friends."

BLAST! Brightburn was struck in the back by a star bolts and sent falling to the ground.

"Grraurgh!" He grunted as he got back up, showing signs of bruising; he had been taken by surprise by the other alien and was enraged by being injured. "You will pay for that!"

He unleashed his heat vision, but received a shock in the process.

"Aaaahh!" He screamed as his heat vision was unleashed towards Starfire, but his eyes became irritated and his face felt singed. "Aaaurgh! Aaaurgh!"

_The atomized metal! _Robin suspected. _It must throw his powers off! Or it makes him vulnerable to his own abilities._

His mask had fallen off, revealing his very human-looking face, partially singed and looking almost like a regular Caucasian man with minor burns.

"If you weren't so evil, I would say that you are nice," Starfire expressed to him, floating above them, prepared to fire another star bolt.

With his eyes recovering from the failed attempt to attack Starfire, Brightburn hated the sight of her looking down on him like he was some sort of…freak.

"Don't look at me like that!" He yelled at her, his eyes flaring again. "Aaaaurgh!"

He felt the negatives of his heat vision stinging at his face again, but he had something else in mind. Feeling the weightlessness in his muscles and legs, he took to the air, slamming into her. But something was off with the way it all felt when he did so; his bones felt brittle, his skin less than impervious to injuries, and the wind resistance was off.

"I'll crush you!" He told her, trapping her in his grip, trying to crush her in a bear hug, but it felt like he was having difficulty making good on his threat.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," Starfire told him, "but it seems the tide had turned."

Bash! Starfire kicked him right where the light didn't shine, freeing herself from his grip.

"Aaaurgh!" Brightburn groaned as felt the pain in his loins as he fell back to the ground.

-x-

"Are you recoding how long it's been since he was exposed to the atomized metal grenade, Cyborg?" Raven asked as they hid behind a ruined building.

"Yeah, and so far, it's been under three minutes since the first grenade was tossed at him," Cyborg answered. "I hope it lasts."

Beast Boy, taking the form of an owl for greater perception in the red night, saw Brightburn rise back up, just in time to see Robin thrash him with his staff, knocking him back down. It looked as though Brightburn was still vulnerable…until he got back up and Robin's staff started looking dented, like it was being used to hit something too tough for it. He resumed his human form and looked to Cyborg.

"How long has it been now?" He asked him.

"Five minutes," he answered.

"That looks like the limit to the atomized metal grenade's effects."

"Aaaaurgh!" They heard Robin's yell of pain, and they saw Brightburn had managed to break his right arm, throwing him aside.

"I'd end you right now, but you're just a human," Brightburn told him. "You're not worth a migraine and you're doomed to die soon."

"Get away from him!" Starfire yelled as she flung her star bolts at him, but they barely fazed him at all. _He's invulnerable again._

She reached behind herself and grabbed one of her grenades, but Brightburn flew towards her again, tackling her against a ruined building.

"Aaurgh!" Starfire grunted, sprawled on the ground as she struggled to get up.

"I'm the only one that deserves to be here," she heard him say as she looked up at him.

BLAST! She tried her eye beams, but he was unaffected, looking as indifferent as he was cruel.

"One day, you will fall," she warned him.

"Not today," he responded, about to reduce her to molten pulp with his heat vision.

Bang! Something exploded behind him and covered him in that smoke again.

"You really think these stupid bombs are going to stop me?!" He yelled at whoever was foolish enough to stop him.

A glistening flick of light caught his attention in the clearing smoke, and he felt a tear in his clothing and flesh, feeling something dig into his waist.

"Urgh!" He groaned, seeing that it was that pathetic boy with the spiky hair and green tights whose arm he broke.

"You shouldn't have taken your eyes off of me," Robin told him.

Brightburn's eyes flared as he felt the singing pain of his heat vision acting up, but he didn't care about his own repercussions. He was just sick of this wannabe hero.

"Die!" He yelled as his eyes unleashed their fury upon Robin.

BLAST! The whole building came down…and only Starfire made it out.

"Starfire!" Beast Boy yelled, seeing her fall as he, Raven and Cyborg ran to the area away from where the former building once stood.

"Ugh…urgh…" Starfire groaned as she crawled.

Cyborg came and picked her up.

"Robin…" She uttered. "Robin's still in there."

Cyborg looked at the ruins of the building…but couldn't detect any thermal signatures belonging to a human; earlier on, he found that Brightburn had a higher body temperature, probably the result of embracing his drive to take the world…or excessive use of his heat vision.

"I don't think he made it, Star," he told them.

-x-

Robin didn't even feel the end crashing down upon him, but he found himself laying in a grassy plane under a blue sky.

"What were you thinking when you stabbed him, Boy Wonder?" He heard Brother Correction's voice as he turned around and saw him standing a few feet away, looking down upon him.

"As the effects of the atomized metal grenade wore off, he was going to harm her," he responded, "or worse. He was going to kill her. I couldn't let him do that."

"Did you have any concerns for your own life? Any degree of self-preservation? Everyone for themselves? Any of that at all?"

Robin denied any thoughts of wanting to save himself from Brightburn's attack. He had to stop him before he harmed her. If he could do at least that…then…at least he would have gone out knowing that she got away from that monster.

"Did I save her?" He asked Brother Correction. "Did I save Starfire from Brightburn?"

"You did," he answered him.

"Tell me one other thing… Did I make any difference trying to stop Brightburn? Did anything I do to help matter? I wasn't being a hero in the beginning and I caused the deaths of people trying to hide from Brightburn, so I have to live with the guilt of failing them, but did I at least give the others a chance to stop him, to save those that were left alive?"

Brother Correction sat down in front of him and responded, "Self-sacrifice…is the difference between being a hero…and being a martyr. You put one of your friends before yourself and gave your life to save Starfire's. You made a difference, Robin. So long as the rest of the Teen Titans are alive, there is still a chance to defeat Brightburn and save those who remain. If they win, you'll be remembered for your sacrifice. In Starfire's eyes, you became her hero."

Unlike the previous times Robin and the other Titans had made serious messes and caused more problems than they offered lousy solutions, this time was different. There was no do-over, no save or reset, and no second chances to redeem oneself. Robin had died protecting Starfire…and would stay dead. Heroes, real heroes…didn't come back to life unless it was under special circumstances or special considerations, like a Lazarus Pit or time machine. But not for Robin; the Boy Wonder, the former sidekick/partner of the Batman…was to remain dead.

"What is this place?" He asked.

"This place…is called the Elysium Fields," Brother Correction answered. "This is where those who are heroes come when they die."

In Robin's mind, it was like Heaven…but he didn't feel at peace. Heaven had to be a place that was earned by those that deserved to be recognized as being good people…and he didn't feel like he deserved to be here. He didn't feel like he deserved to be here at all.

To be continued…

A/N: What did you think? I had Robin do a selfless act, he ends up in a place where selfless people reside, and he doesn't feel like he belongs there. But I had to make him willing to make the choice that only a real hero would make, resulting in him becoming a real hero, close to what his serious self would be.


End file.
